admin 13/06/2012 admin 13/06/2012

Leaving Cert History

Hugh - Higher Level

Ok first things first, document based question, as anticipated we had the Indian independence case study thrown at us. Questions 1-3 contained fairly basic questions on the accompanying documents, which consisted of an extract from a Cabinet Mission report on the situation in India and a Daily Mail cartoon. The questions tested students ability to comprehend, compare and critically analyse the two documents, with the 40 mark (out of 100 for the section overall) question asking about the difficulties associated with British withdrawal from India. Overall this section was, as usual, very student friendly.The second Irish topic, Movements for Political and Social Reform, 1870-1914 was generally well received, with questions on the Suffrage movement, the strengths and weaknesses of Parnell as a leader, an interesting two part question on the Ulster Question and the development of Unionism, and a question on the contributions of the GAA, the Gaelic League and the Anglo-Irish Literary Revival to Irish cultural revival. I had a go at the Ulster Question/Unionism 1870-1914, which was unusual in that it asked for an explanation of a concept-the Ulster Question in conjunction with an element. This type of question is rare but regardless shows that the key political concepts on the course can't be ignored.The pursuit of sovereignty and the impact of partition section was absolutely off the walls, opening with a question on the impact the threat and use of physical force had on Ireland, this question was unusual in its format and had a very broad scope, including the formation of the Ulster Volunteers, the formation of the Irish Volunteers, the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil war. All of which would usually form a question in their own right! I tackled the most straight forward question there on the significance of the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, though I was tempted by the question on the security policy of the Northern government 1920-1945 which could be combined with economic policy. Anglo Irish relations 1923-1949 was also asked.For the Dictatorship and Democracy section I did the question on the extent to which Hitler's foreign policy 1933-1939 was responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War. There were also some straight-forward questions on Stalin's rule in Russia, the challenges facing France 1920-1945 and a slightly unexpected one on Anti-semitism and the Holocaust, 1920-1945 something most students wouldn't have had an awful lot of material on.Overall this was a very mixed paper, with some straight-forward questions coupled with some surprises. As in all History exams timing was very difficult. The amount of material expected from candidates in such a short space of time is a bit unreasonable, an extra ten minutes on this exam would have been very welcome!

Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.

admin 13/06/2012 admin 13/06/2012

Junior Cert History

Shahed - Higher Level

Ahh, history. Probably my most dreaded exam, which is quite strange.I was anxious before this exam. I had studied, but I hadn't studied all the chapters. Thankfully though, it worked out in my favour.The first section was picture questions. These were easy for the most part, but I panicked when I saw the two Irish History questions. It was one of the chapters I hadn't really studied, but I managed.Section two was documents. One was about Magellan and the Incas, the other about Hitler. These were also easy, with nothing difficult. Next was the short questions. There was a wide range in these and I was able to do most.Next, People In History. I looked at the choices and I cried tears of pure joy! The accounts that I had learned well all came up! I chose to write about the work of the archaeologist and a factory worker during the British Industrial Revolution, both easy choices.The next question was about the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Nothing difficult here, though the mini account threw me off a little, as I hadn't focused on the Counter-Reformation, but thankfully I remembered it from studying it before.For question six, the questions were about the Middle Ages, Social Change, Irish History and International Relations. I chose the Middle Ages and International Relations; we hadn't studied Social Change and Irish history and I didn't get along very well. But the questions were easy and again, like in French, a question which I had studied right before going into the exam came up!In general, I was pleasantly surprised by this paper. All the frantic studying payed off! Now, two more exams, then SUMMER!

Clara - Higher Level

Woosh, what a paper. I don't think I've ever written so much in the last five minutes of an exam as I did on this one. I’m surprised I can even write this-my hand is so sore! As I was entering my centre all I could think was "Oh my-this is my second last exam!" I felt the rush of hope and got that good feeling you get when you feel like you're well prepared and should do well in a test as I entered my centre and I hope it was right..!History is most definitely one of my preferred subjects so I was pretty happy taking this exam-even so, I think it was not only me who taught this was a really fair and good paper. After speaking to many people in my class who took the paper, we were all agreed! So, more details, yes?Section 1, 2 and 3: I flew through them at breakneck speed. I always try to do them as fast as I can while getting them right because it gives me more time to focus on the bigger sections. Section 1 was the usual, simple common sense stuff and section two was pretty much the same-looked for very little real information. The short questions were basically ok also. There were a few little unusual questions here and there but I answered 17 of them so I'm hoping I'll get my 20 marks.Section 4 :( A) Essays... *shudders* HATED it. Absolutely everything in history that I really dislike and never really study ie. archaeology, plantations and renaissance painters was on. Nooo! But, I told myself to cop on and be brave and made a reasonable attempt at the question on plantations. (B) I was so much happier with-I knew a factory or mine worker well, so I just morphed it into an owner with some jigging around of vocab.Section 5-I almost cried with happiness when I saw the reformation had come up! I was silently preparing myself to be asked about Political Revolutions or even Plantations that I wouldn't be able to do but I got lucky and this was almost exactly like the question from my mock. I knew what I was doing!Section 6-Challenging again! Personally I read through all of them and found that I could quite happily do (A) and (D).I had prepared for a stab at (C) but it seemed like a rather difficult one-the fact that it had lots of parts turned me off it at lot and I hadn't studied Irish history as I hate it so I was delighted that the Middle Ages was (A).I know that well! I did the little questions and then the longer questions on the life of a lady in a castle and the life of a serf. (D) was good aswell. The format was unusual but the questions were reasonable-the usual choice between 3 topics and a few on war history.Good, good paper! Science tomorrow morning is my last exam-cannot wait to have it over with. Good luck everyone!

admin 13/06/2012 admin 13/06/2012

Leaving Cert French

Aoife - Higher Level

After 6 years of studying French it all came down to today. When I got the written paper and I first looked through it I was happy enough with the paper overall.The first comprehension was about a young man from Paris. It was relatively understandable and the questions weren’t too bad on it. The literary comprehension was a bit more difficult as usual, there was a bit of “je ne sais pas” going on in my head.When I then came to the first written question I was happy that I could have attempted both parts, the first part was about how Irish young people have plenty of reasons to be happy and to discuss this. The second part was that you had just gotten a surprising call from your friend; write what was surprising and what you did after that. I chose to do the first part as I had a bit more to say about that topic.I then read carefully through the other 6 options, there were reactions, journal intime and an email. I chose to do the journal intime about how your first day on a part time job went badly and I also chose to do my reaction on how holidays in Ireland and their price. I liked the range of options that they gave within the paper and how they gave them, they were understandable for the most part.It was then our 10 minute break to prepare ourselves for the last “read the instructions carefully”. I find this part of the exam more difficult than the written or comprehensions. The tape covered a wide range of topics, it covered school, and speeding while driving excuses, parent-child relationships. It was an ok tape there were a few guesses but I was happy after it. This leaves me with just one more exam left until the end of all this madness! I hope that everyone is getting on ok, best of luck in the rest of your exams. Aoife :)

ISSU Commentary

Pupils and teachers today described the Leaving Cert higher-level French paper as "very positive". Many students could have been perplexed by the composition question explaining why young people in Ireland have many reasons to be happy. Many students were thankful for the choice element here! The essay about the shiny happy Irish youth was part of well received written expression section on the paper. Variety was a major positive overall. Many students who had learned off essays were left bitterly disappointed. The themes were straightforward, but were not predicted. Rote learning is fast becoming a thing of the past. There were plenty of interesting topics such as an email from a French friend inquiring about the reasoning of learning the Irish language, as well as a discussion topic about street protests and their importance in fighting against bad political decisions and injustice. Many sports enthusiasts would have been overjoyed to see Euro 2012, but this turned out to be about the level of sports programmes on television. The comprehensions that start the paper were challenging but not impossible. The first one was highlighted by many as being very topical and realistic. It was about a young male, living in the suburbs who can’t afford to move out of his parent’s house. Parts of the vocabulary in the listening section were difficult according to many. Ordinary level students sat a ‘typical’ paper which had ‘well practised and predictable topics’, in the opinion of some teachers. The integration of French culture was emphasised by many as a major positive. Overall there were few complaints.

admin 13/06/2012 admin 13/06/2012

Junior Cert French

Clara - Higher Level

Well,that was a little beauty of a paper! Honestly-the hardest part of this morning so far has been getting out of bed after going to see a concert last night :P Let's dive right in and get down to the specifics:Aural: This was one of the easiest I've come across to be frank. Even the most difficult section (Section E I thought) was not overly challenging and was pleasant to listen to.Comprehensions: Again,this was child's play! Very basic with the usual format of 9 pieces with some questions at the bottom. These were interesting and the questions were very good for the most part - although there were a few more difficult ones peeping through. Nothing impossible.Written section: Postcards! Nooooooo!!! I had anticipated a note so when I saw this it was a moment of sheer panic. However, I told myself to calm down and re-read. I coped on that I DID know what to say and got writing. Very stereo-typical,"you're on holidays" postcard to a French pen-pal. Some of the points were a little unusual though, the one about celebrating your mother's birthday? No matter! Onwards to the letter I went. I wasn't surprised to see a formal and informal letter - I had studied both and therefore had a real choice here but in the end I went for the informal one. I was really happy with the letter I produced, the points were more like previous years here thankfully!The only thing there is, anyone reading this who really struggles with French will completely disagree - keep in mind it's one of my favourite subjects and I was therefore almost looking forward to this exam.Overall, I found this paper fun and easy. Au revoir and bonne chance avec l'histoire!

Shahed - Higher Level

Le Français? C'est très, très facile!I was both nervous and calm going into this exam. I had done very little French revision lately (I was mostly focusing on History), but after reading through the whole paper, I was relieved - it looked like a piece of cake!The first section of the exam was the listening comprehension. This has always been my favourite part of French exams, I do quite well on it. It was quite straightforward, nothing difficult at all.The next section was the reading comprehensions. This was incredibly easy, which is a little unusual. There are always some very difficult questions in most years, but this time, there was only one or two which were a little tricky. All in all, this was an easy section.Finally, the written section. This was the section that I had been dreading the most. There was a postcard and then either a formal or informal letter. The postcard was like every other year, nothing too unusual. For the letter, I chose to do an informal letter; I don't know formal letters very well, we hadn't done them much. I was so relieved when I saw informal letter. One of the points I had revised just before going into the exam had come up! This helped to put me at ease for the rest of the exam.As a whole, this was a straightforward exam. I was finished with about an hour left over, though I stayed and went over everything. I was quite happy coming out of it. That's another exam to tick off the list!

admin 12/06/2012 admin 12/06/2012

Leaving Cert Biology

Sarah - Higher Level

I think I can hear the Hallelujah chorus... I must admit, biology is not my strongest point, so pairing it up with Irish paper 2 was a cruel blow. These were probably my two most neglected subjects, so last night consisted of two years worth of study. After a lot of tears and tantrums, I settled down for a bit of sleep, to be awoken from my rest by the sound of my alarm clock, reminding me that my study wasn't finished yet. I did a very slapdash revision of my beautiful diagrams (on flashcards!) and went to school to get a last minute look over Irish. Then, I spent exactly 85 minutes learning everything I possibly could about biology. Sadly, I only got to cover Section 1 and Section 2, but I figured I'd wing it! I don't really know what to think of the exam itself to be honest! I decided to do every question because I knew I'd have the time. I thought the question on food was nice, as was question 2 on tissues. I completely blanked for the question on the bone, so I made up lots of nice little names to accompany the diagram. I liked the ecology in question four, but I thought it was very much a case of common sense. Again, question 5 was grand, I had been expecting a lot of plants so it was do-able. The question on mutations was horrific, I had absolutely no idea what to write so I put my creativity into action and came up with some random waffling. I thought the first experiment question was mighty, I think I just wrote down the first thing that popped into my head and left it at that. The other two questions were so straight-forward that Section B just flew! After that it all went downhill... I blabbed on about the most ridiculous rubbish, but I'm hoping for pity marks. In genetics, I had a mini panic attack when I saw linkage so I just said SSYY and SsYy or something! It was a case of getting something on the page. I thought the ecology question was crazy and I used my head and wrote whatever I could using the little common sense I possess. Question 12 was lovely, just a bit of reading off a diagram really?! I made a mess of 13. Despite my amazing diagrams, I freaked and everything I had learnt turned into a bundle of confusion. I found a lot of the last two questions quite hard to understand and I didn't really know what they were looking for in some of them. Nonetheless, my biology books are now firmly shut, never to see the light of day again! In short, I found the whole paper a wee bit random. I thought some of the questions were a bit out-of-the-blue, but I must get over all of that now and go listen to some french! Hope you all found Biology okay, and I'll be back next week after Chemistry (my last exam)!! :P x

admin 12/06/2012 admin 12/06/2012

Leaving Cert Irish Paper 2

Aoife - Higher Level

Well that’s it, the last written Irish exam most of us will ever do, an end to the love/hate relationship. After a night full of revising every pros and filíocht, and an Triail I wasn’t too disappointed when I got the paper. It was grand was the general reaction in my school. The comprehensions were manageable; the new format where you can just take the words out of the text makes it a lot easier. However I was slightly surprised to see that they had changed the marking scheme even though they hadn’t mentioned it. Question 6 is now worth 15 marks and questions 1-5 are worth 7 marks. I was delighted to see that Hurlamaboc came up as it’s an easy text to write about. I didn’t feel much the same about an tEarrach Thiar, the questions were still alright. An lastly the an Triail question was good and suited the material that I had. Overall it wasn’t a bad paper it was a long paper however as it’s a lot to write about in the space of time that’s given. I hope it went ok for everyone, Aoife

Hugh - Higher Level

Right, Irish paper 2. Very quick overview:First Comprehension featured an element of the much-anticipated Olympic Games mixed with biographical material. The 6b question asked for your impression of the attitudes of certain segments of American society and the Olympic organisation body towards "people like" the sportsman Jim Thorpe who was of mixed European-Native American ancestry. These were given in the piece so just required re-phrasing. Verdict = Grand!Second comprehension was a piece by an Irish journalist on life in the favelas in Brasil. Featured personal experiences, reflections and historical information, 6b asked which genre did the piece belong to and to identify two traits of this genre evident in the piece. Verdict = Grand.Both comprehensions featured grammar questions, nothing too exhausting, it asked students to pick out examples of certain tenses etc.Prose question featured Hurlamaboc, this was widely anticipated and the question focused on the central character of Lisín and the insights we get from the extract into modern life.Poetry was in a slightly different format to the sample papers, but only slightly. It featured An tEarrach Thiar - by Mairtín Ó Direáin and we were asked about 1. The effectiveness of sounds and images in the poem. 2. To write a short biography of the poet, and 3. The effectiveness of repetition in the poem. So no big surprises on that section.The An Trial question went down well with most students.......except for me....who managed to wrongly translate a word I've come across hundreds of times "fimíneacht" which means hypocrisy, in my exam addled brain it meant feminism! Oh well, on to history!

ISSU Commentary

There were some new and ‘tricky’ elements in the higher level Irish paper two this morning; with the much-maligned Stair na Gaeilge consigned to ancient history, the new look Irish paper 2 held no major shocks, although it was challenging. The paper opened reasonably well with a comprehension piece about an Irish American Jim Thorpe Olympian who won two gold medals at the 1923 Olympics. Many described this as interesting.Overall, the questions based on the piece were, “fairly typical,” The final question on the piece was a new addition to the exam this year. Broken into two parts, a grammar question and an opinion piece, the question drew a varied feedback, it was broken into two parts. The grammar segment was “reasonable”, according to many, adding the opinion piece was too taxing. Some raised questions about the amount of time spent learning proportionate to the amount of marks attainable for the ’poetry and prose’ sections. There was a similar line of thought about a ten mark question from the comprehension section Gaeilgeoir Alex Hijmans, a Dutchman appeared in the subsequent comprehension piece which was an excerpt from his book, Favela. Some highlighted that a glossary might have been helpful for some of the more unusual and unfamiliar terms used. Some had problems with question 6, as asking students about the literary genre of the piece was described as ‘”unfair” by some. The prose question, on Hurlamboc, presented no great challenge and the poem, An tEarrach Thiar was anticipated. There were few complaints about the additional literature question.Ordinary level students had a good start with two “very interesting,” comprehension passages. One featured sports presenter Evanne Ní Chuillin and the other presented tennis player Daithí Ó hEithir. The questions on both pieces were typcal. The prose questions on Hurlamboc were uncommon. Students were asked 6 short questions rather than a ‘summary’ type question.The second prose question about Oisín í dTír na nÓg was more like what we have previously seen.The two poems given were Géibheann and An tEarrach Thiar. These were accompanied by short questions and questions on emotions and imagery. There were little or no complaints about these.